JPH04366676A - Thermal head cooling device of thermal printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent a thermal head from becoming overheated. CONSTITUTION:An air guide 24 is engaged with a thermal head 10 and rocks in response to the position of the thermal head 10. Alternatively, a cooling fan 22 is engaged with the thermal head 10 and the cooling fan 22 rocks in response to the position of the thermal head 10. Subsequently, an air is blown to the thermal head at the time of image printing and parking actions and thus the thermal head 10 can be cooled.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thermal head cooling device for a thermal printer, and more particularly to a thermal head cooling device for a thermal printer, in which a recording paper is sandwiched between a thermal head having a plurality of heating elements and a platen drum, and the recording paper is conveyed while generating heat. The present invention relates to a thermal head cooling device for a thermal printer device that records an image on recording paper by selectively changing the amount of heat of an element.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art Thermal printer devices have been used in the medical field as printer devices for medical image diagnostic equipment. That is, in the medical field, various medical image diagnostic devices such as ultrasound imaging devices and Obtain an image of the affected area, and use this image as, for example,
It is displayed as a visible image on a CRT monitor.

[0003] It would be convenient if the affected area displayed on the monitor of the medical image diagnostic apparatus could be obtained as a hard copy, and for this purpose various printer devices including thermal printer devices have been developed. In addition to medical applications, thermal printer devices are also used for printing on the surfaces of ID cards, prepaid cards, and the like.

[0004] As thermal printer devices, thermal transfer type thermal printer devices and heat sensitive type thermal printer devices are known.Here, a thermal transfer type thermal printer device will be explained as an example.Recording paper is sent one sheet at a time from a cassette to a printing section. The printing section has a thermal head equipped with a plurality of heat generating elements and an ink sheet, and the ink sheet and the fed recording paper are sandwiched between the thermal head and the platen drum. At the same time, the heating element is driven based on the video signal sent from the control device, and the video is transferred from the ink sheet to the recording paper. When obtaining a color image, the ink sheet contains three primary colors for printing: yellow (Y) and magenta (M).
, an area Y to which three types of ink of cyan (C) are attached,
M and C are formed sequentially. R, G, B of color image
The signals are converted into YMC signals and applied to the thermal head to perform three-color printing.

[0005] After printing is completed, the platen drum is rotated,
The recording paper is ejected.

[0006]

However, in a conventional thermal head cooling device of a thermal printer, a cooling fan is oriented to cool the thermal head during printing. Therefore, when the thermal head is separated from the platen drum, there is a drawback that the air from the cooling fan does not hit the thermal head and escapes. Therefore, when printing continuously, there is a risk that the thermal head may be damaged by heat. In order to prevent this, waiting until the thermal head cools down has the disadvantage that the head standby time becomes longer and printing time becomes longer. Also,
The drawback is that the temperature change in the thermal head increases, which changes the color tone of the print.

The present invention was made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to propose a thermal head cooling device for a thermal printer device that can send cooling air to the thermal head regardless of the position of the thermal head. shall be.

[0008]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a thermal printer device having a thermal head that prints an image on a recording paper on a platen drum through an ink sheet while rotating the platen drum. A cooling fan is provided in the vicinity of the thermal head, and an air guide plate or the cooling fan is tilted to send cooling air according to the inclination of the thermal head.

[0009]

[Operation] In the present invention, since the air guide plate or the cooling fan is tilted according to the position of the thermal head, the cooling fan air is effectively sent to both the printing position and the retracted position of the thermal head to cool the thermal head.

0010

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of a thermal head cooling device for a thermal printer apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 shows the structure around the thermal head of a thermal printer device according to the present invention.
is fixed to the tip of the The thermal head 10 is pressed against the platen drum 18 with a predetermined pressing force by the swing lever 14 swinging about the shaft 16 .

The main body of the thermal head 10 is made of Al, and the printing surface 20 is made of a ceramic sheet. Although not shown, a plurality of heating elements are arranged on the printing surface 20 along the axial direction of the platen drum 18. A heat dissipating member 23 made of Al is attached to the surface of the thermal head 10 opposite to the printing surface 20 using screws or the like. Heat dissipation member 2
1 has heat radiation fins 25.

As shown in FIG. 2, a cooling fan 22 is provided facing the thermal head 10. cooling fan 22
A baffle plate 24 is provided on the air outlet side so as to be swingable about a shaft 26 . The tip 28 of the baffle plate 24 is in contact with the tip of the thermal head 10, and in this state is biased by a spring in the direction of contact. Therefore, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the inclination of the baffle plate 24 changes around the axis 26 depending on the position of the thermal head 10.

Note that 11 is an ink sheet cassette having an ink sheet 13. The thermal printer device also has a recording paper storage section, a recording paper feeding section, a paper ejection tray section, etc., but these are not directly related to the present invention, so their explanation will be omitted. According to the thermal head cooling device according to the present invention configured as described above, as shown in FIG. 3, when the thermal head 10 is retracted, the air guide plate 24
The thermal head 10 is pushed upward and tilted so as to guide the air from the cooling fan 22 to the radiation fins 25 of the thermal head 10 . Thereby, the thermal head 10 is effectively cooled even when it is retracted.

When printing with the thermal head 10, the baffle plate 24 swings in response to the movement of the thermal head 10, as shown in FIG. 2, and assumes a substantially horizontal position. This allows the wind from the cooling fan 22 to be transferred to the heat radiation fins 2 of the thermal head 10 during printing.
Lead to 5. In the embodiment described above, the baffle plate 24 was swung in accordance with the position of the thermal head 10, but in the second embodiment,
It was decided to swing the cooling fan 22 in accordance with the position of the head 10. That is, the cooling fan 22
This swing lever 30 swings around a shaft 32. The tip 34 of the swing lever 30 is connected to the thermal head 1
It is configured to be able to engage with the upper end of the heat dissipation fin 25 of No. 0. When the thermal head 20 is retracted, the lever 30 is pushed up by the thermal head 10, and accordingly the fan 22
The radiation fins 25 of the tilted thermal head 10 are also cooled.

When the thermal head 10 is printing, the engagement between the lever 30 and the thermal head 10 is released, the cooling fan 22 returns to its original position, and the radiation fins 25 of the thermal head 10 are cooled by the air from the cooling fan 22. be done. The present invention can be applied to both thermal transfer type thermal printer devices and heat-sensitive type thermal printer devices.

[0016]

As explained above, according to the thermal head cooling device for a thermal printer device according to the present invention, the air guide plate or the cooling fan is tilted according to the position of the thermal head, so that the thermal head can be easily evacuated. The thermal head can be effectively cooled both during printing and printing. Therefore, the temperature of the thermal head can be kept constant even in situations where overheating is likely to occur, such as during continuous printing.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a thermal head structure of a thermal printer device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an embodiment of the thermal head according to the present invention during printing.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an embodiment of the thermal head according to the present invention during retraction.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing another embodiment of the thermal head according to the present invention during printing.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention at the time of evacuation.

[Explanation of symbols]

10...Thermal head 18...Platen drum 22...Cooling fan 24...Wind guide plate

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A thermal printer device having a thermal head that prints an image on a recording paper on a platen drum via an ink sheet while rotating the platen drum,
A cooling fan is provided adjacent to the thermal head,
A swingingly supported baffle plate is provided on the air outlet side of the cooling fan, and its tip engages with the thermal head.
A thermal head cooling device for a thermal printer device, characterized in that an air guide plate tilts according to the tilt of the thermal head to guide air from a cooling fan to the thermal head. 2. A thermal printer device having a thermal head that prints an image on a recording paper on a platen drum through an ink sheet while rotating the platen drum, wherein a cooling fan is provided in the vicinity of the thermal head; A thermal printer device characterized in that the cooling fan is rotatably supported and engaged with the thermal head, and the cooling fan tilts according to the tilt of the thermal head to send air from the cooling fan to the thermal head. Thermal head cooling device.